Psychedelia Gothique

I’ve recently become disenchanted with the traditional (Milford Rules) Writers Workshop format because I find it too negative and lacking in incentive to write more/keep writing. So, I’ve been looking for alternatives and here’s what I’ve come up with: Late last year, I wrote four good stories in as many months. It was the most consistent level of production I had enjoyed in over 30 years of writing.  I found it on Wattpad –   specifically in an event called a “smackdown” where 20 writers would compete in an elimination-based contest to write stories containing a pre-determined set of elements. I was only ever involved in one Smackdown, but I am proud of every one of those stories. In my case, the person running the Smackdown had some sort of computer meltdown and the final round never played out. So there was no “winner” – which was fine with me, because that’s not the main reason I was participating. I was doing it to challenge myself and to get myself back in the ...

Sidhe is the Irish word for Faerie. It's pronounced shee. In Scotland, shee is traditionally spelled Sith. Writing a book set in Iron Age Scotland, I used Sith by default, and was told in no uncertain terms by members of my writer's workshop that I cannot do that. Sith now belongs to Disney. Originally coopted by George Lucas for Star Wars, it was passed to Disney with the rest of the franchise. Part of me recoiled at the notion of a corporation taking over an archetypal aspect of human history. Of course, that's not really what happened. Neither Lucasfilm nor Disney actually own the word Sith. But it is a undeniable fact that the word can no longer be used without conjuring Death Stars, Jedi knights and midichlorians. So now I have to decide what to use in its place. Fairy comes with as much or more connotative baggage as Sith, albeit less specific, so somewhat more versatile. Nevertheless, the word cannot be used without invoking a whole raft of connotations, hav...

Once upon a time, not all that terribly long ago, I was one of those writers who thought that every word was precious. If it was somewhat short of brilliance - every phrase and sentence had at least the seeds of genius in it. While that may be true for some writers, it's certainly never been true for me. While I do come out with my share of good, strong, dynamic sentences - I also conjure up more than my share of stinkers. And while I can write an engaging readable first draft, they do tend to be riddled with typos and awkward constructions. I often feel that I have made my case brilliantly, then upon re-reading three days later, end up wondering what the hell I was trying to say. All of my life - fancying myself not only as a writer, but as a good writer - I have deluded myself into believing that I'm an exceptional writer. I've clung to every word, as hard-earned and precious. What bullshit. I think the problem was simply not having written enough. I used to write rea...

Ever heard of the word "Sluagh"? Neither had I. But according to Wikipedia, the "Sluagh" were spirits of the restless dead. They flew in groups like flocks of birds and were known to enter the houses of the dying, with the goal of carrying the souls away with them. Like the reanimated spirits in The Goblin's Cloak , they live in barrows and steal souls.  My discovery of this worked out amazingly well, considering that I had never heard of the sluagh until long after I created my barrow-imps, which are essentially sluagh in human form.  Which brings me back to what originally inspired my interpretation of the mythology I'm using in this novel. It is set during a very interesting time between the Druids and the Celts. Historians talk about this being the time of the Picts, but next to nothing is actually known about the Picts...which is wonderful for someone like me who likes to make stuff up. Combining elements of Druidic faith with aspects...

Having written horror fiction for most of the last 30 years, it never occurred to me how much I was influenced by my favourite fantasy authors, but in the course of writing The Goblin's Cloak, a couple of influences in particular have come to my attention – and they are not the usual suspects. Anyone writing epic fantasy in the 21st century is obviously going to owe a debt to J. R. R. Tolkien. Publishers spent most of the last half of the 20th century looking for the next Tolkien and even if fantasy written during that period did not consciously draw on Lord of the Rings, we were all influenced by it in some way. But my major influences were considerably more obscure. Evangeline Walton wrote most of her incomparable Mabinogion tetralogy between 1920 and 1940 – even though most of her books were either obscure or unpublished until released as part of the wonderful Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in the 1970s. Her books were wonderful, rich, compassionate retellings of Welsh myths....

On my bookshelves are perhaps 25 books that survived several relationships and at least five or ten moves, and are still in my possession. Some of them I have owned in several different editions and some only ever appeared in one edition. These are books that influenced me profoundly and/or impressed me mightily. (See my list at the bottom of the page) Among my most treasured books are Colin Wilson’s The Outsider and John Gardiner’s remarkable and profound short novel, Grendel – which I have always regarded as the “ultimate” outsider story. It wasn’t until I looked at all the books that were profound enough or striking enough to hook me that I recognized how important the “outsider” theme has always been to me and how much it has influenced my own writing. My novel, The Goblin’s Cloak takes the central conceit of Gardener’s Grendel – the perspective of a monster on the periphery of civilization – the ultimate outsider. It examines our society's millennial preocc...

Been a busy couple of days updating websites. I've added the newest reviews (the free story download is still there, just not as easy to find) at Psychedelia Gothique.  I've also been updating the Sculptor's Touch site in preparation for the coming updates - Laura has a new article about how to set a base on a stone sculpture; she has two new sculpture that just need a few finishing touches and I have three new ones at various points in the polishing process - so all that stuff will be ready to show the world by the end of April. And we'll be able to start carving outside this month - which means that even more new pieces will soon be ready to show the world. I've been doing more than the usual updates at Canadian Newcomer . And of course this has required updates on Facebook and here. I'm rather relieved that I've decided to let the Tumblr and Wordpress blogs lie fallow for awhile. Too much damned work for too little reward. And I haven't eve...